Celtic vs Rangers Prediction: Close Scottish Cup final expected

Celtic and Rangers meet for a highly-anticipated Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park on Saturday afternoon, as Brendan Rodgers targets a famous double in his first season back at the club. Celtic come into this one as favourites, as Philippe Clement still chases his first Old Firm win. 

Below you can find my Celtic vs Rangers Prediction, as both teams go head-to-head for cup glory.  

Team News

Joe Hart will make his final appearance for Celtic in this game, having announced his retirement at the end of the current campaign. The former England number one has been superb for Celtic, and will want to go out on a high here. Meanwhile Kyogo Furuhashi will start up front, likely to be flanked by Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn and Yang Hyun-Jun or Luis Palma, with Hyun-Jun being given the nod in the semi-final win over Aberdeen. 

For Rangers, Jack Butland will start in goal, while Todd Cantwell is expecting to continue in the number ten role. Fabio Silva was dropped to the bench against Hearts but I expect him to come back into the team, while Cyriel Dessers will lead the line. 

Celtic vs Rangers Match Odds

Celtic are the favourites to win in 90 minutes, priced at 87/100, while Rangers are available at 53/20. A draw can be backed at 49/20, BTTS is 69/100 and over 2.5 goals is 19/25.

Celtic to win in 90 mins @ 87/100 

I think this is a fairly straightforward final, when we look at it from a footballing perspective. Of course, the emotion of an Old Firm Derby and the Scottish Cup final rolled into one will inspire Rangers, but they simply aren’t as good as Celtic this season. They’ve been beaten three out of the last four times and Clement still hasn’t been able to beat Celtic during his tenure. 

Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers' side are coming off the back of another Scottish Premiership title, their 54th, after a 3-2 win over St Mirren on Saturday, courtesy of goals from Matt O’Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Luis Palma. Importantly, Celtic beat them two weeks ago on home soil, coming out with a 2-1 victory, and they will be desperate to add to their silverware collection at Hampden Park.

The Glasgow rivals faced off just two weeks ago, with Celtic coming out 2-1 winners in a chaotic derby.

Celtic 2-1 Rangers @ 36/5

Rangers won the Scottish League Cup earlier this season, but Celtic just seem to have a spell over them at this moment in time. In the search for more value, I am backing a correct score of 2-1. We have seen some close games between the two of late, with the 3-3 draw at Ibrox a relatively positive result for Rangers in April. 

This is the first time these two sides have met in the final since 2002, but I think we will see another narrow win for Celtic. Both attacks have quality, so I think both teams will find the net, and the value for me lies in a repeat of the Celtic Park result just a few weeks ago. I’m happy to plump for Celtic 2-1 Rangers @ 36/5.

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